And let’s not forget what regular citizens do: spend hours making inventive costumes for themselves or their children, or getting together with neighbors to make the fabulous floats that sashay down High Street.

And while we all know that hard work is its own reward, someone still has to be the judge and decide who wins the float and costume contests.

Two years ago, the last time the parade was held, one of those judges was Roger Baumann.

Son of longtime Pottstown eye doctor, the late Harold Baumann, the “judge” has lived in Pottstown since he was 2 years old and said he can remember watching all of Pottstown’s parades from the family home/office on High Street.

Baumann, who said he will be unable to judge this year, said his mother and dad chose Pottstown as the place to live and set up a practice from among many towns they visited within 50 miles of Pottstown “and they never regretted it.”

Also without regret, said Baumann, was his decision to accept the invitation from a fellow Rotarian to be a Halloween parade judge, “I guess because I’m kind and trustworthy,” he said with a laugh.

As it turns out, thanks to Baumann’s peek behind the judge’s curtain, there’s no complicated scoring system for picking winners.

The costumed marchers, in several categories, are lined up by category behind Goodwill Fire Company “and we put our heads together and usually something stands out,” Baumann said.

“It’s common sense. You look at the effort that goes into it and almost always, we were all in agreement,” he said. “The only hard part is, you have to judge very quickly, because there are six or seven different categories, like prettiest, or most scary, and we had to make sure the parade started on time.”

As for the floats, Baumann couldn’t complain. A platform was set up for the judges at Charlotte Street “and that was a lot of fun as a spectator, because you could really see everything.”

“It was nice, I would do it again,” Baumann said. “It’s really a wonderful event, I’m so glad it has been kept up.”

But for the parade to go on, this year and next, enough money will have to be raised to make sure it is kept up.

This year’s organizers, The AMBUCS, the Parks and Recreation Department and the Rotary Club, caught a break from borough council Oct. 9, when the fee to pay for police overtime at the parade was cut in half.

But that still left $2,660 to come up with, not to mention getting a jump on the approximately $5,320 fee that will be charged next year.

So far, donations have been rolling in at The Mercury, and we thank you all.

Checks should be made out to Pottstown Rotary Club Endowment Fund and they (or cash) can be dropped off (or mailed) to Pottstown Halloween Parade Fund, c/o The Mercury, 24 N. Hanover St., Pottstown, PA 19464.